Chiefs and Raiders Battle for the Heart of the AFC West

Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders
Sunday, 4:15 pm

I don’t think anybody predicted before the season that this matchup in week nine would be so important to the AFC West. The Chiefs have shot out of the gates with an outstanding 5-2 start. Their only two losses were respectable efforts at Indianapolis and at Houston. The two things they’ve excelled at is running the ball and stopping the run. They have one of the most dynamic backs in the game in Jamaal Charles who’s piled up 666 yards while averaging 6.5 yards per carry.

Can the Raiders maintain their momentum?

An argument could be made that the Raiders are the hottest team in the NFL. They’ve piled up more than 500 yards in each of the last two games while scoring 92 points in blowing out the Broncos and Seahawks. Darren McFadden is finally starting to reach the potential that made him the fourth pick in the 2008 draft. He’s run for 668 yards and caught 20 passes for an additional 217.

The Chiefs win if: They can hold the Raiders running backs to short gains on first down. The Raiders are second in the NFL in rushing yardage per game and if Jason Campbell is going to be successful in the passing game they are going to need to have the run be a threat on every down. With third and longs that won’t be the case.

The Raiders win if: They can contain Charles. Not to sound like a broken record, but clearly both teams rely on their running game a lot. That’s obvious in that they are the top two running teams in the NFL. Charles is an absolute gamebreaker who is a threat to get to the end zone on every carry.

Who do I like: Chiefs 24-10

Why: The Raiders have played the run well in the last two games. It’s important to note that those games were against the worst rushing team in the NFL (Denver) and the 27th rushing team in the NFL (Seattle). They won’t be able to do it against the Chiefs. I think Charles and Thomas Jones will be able to run for big gains against Oakland’s front seven while the Chiefs defense slows down the Raiders running game.